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More African wood.

Love watching and learning how checkering works. And a hard wood, while more difficult for you, I would think would make a much more durable / valuable set of grips.

Do you eyeball the pattern? And does that file ever slip and ruin a grip? Doing that without a jig or straight edge guide or something just amazes me.
 
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Love watching and learning how checkering works. And a hard wood, while more difficult for you, I would think would make a much more durable / valuable set of grips.

Do you eyeball the pattern? And does that file ever slip and ruin a grip? Doing that without a jig or straight edge guide or something just amazes me.
Yes Doug, ebony is a durable wood and makes great grips for that reason. I lay out the pattern with spacer cutters who's teeth are spread between 16 lines per inch and 32 lines per inch. Then, after the pattern is cut in, I deepen each line a little at a time in alternating directions to point each diamond in the pattern. On average it takes about twelve times in each direction to get the lines deep enough to create points on all the diamonds in the pattern. And yes, slips do occur followed by verbal admonishments and time consuming corrections! Time consuming and laborious. Lots of coffee! LOL
 
Yes Doug, ebony is a durable wood and makes great grips for that reason. I lay out the pattern with spacer cutters who's teeth are spread between 16 lines per inch and 32 lines per inch. Then, after the pattern is cut in, I deepen each line a little at a time in alternating directions to point each diamond in the pattern. On average it takes about twelve times in each direction to get the lines deep enough to create points on all the diamonds in the pattern. And yes, slips do occur followed by verbal admonishments and time consuming corrections! Time consuming and laborious. Lots of coffee! LOL
Ahhh, I think I see now. Thanks for the explanation. These spacer cutters - do they have two blades or cutting edges, and one registers in the previous kerf so they're all equally spaced? That would make a lot of sense.
 
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